Enjoy our annual love-inspired SDMA performance—virtually this year—combining art from the Museum’s collection and spooky poetry and selections from William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Henry V, and Troilus and Cressida, and more!
Our Romantic Art Stops include:
- Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, 4, performed by Joy Yvonne Jones paired with “Shrine Doors,” ca. 18th Century, Tibet
- Henry V, Act V, Scene 2 performed by Samuel Young paired with Charles-Édouard Boutibonne’s “Return from the Promenade,” 1868, Europe
- Sonnet 130 performed by Sandra Maas paired with “Shri Devi,” 11th Century, Tamil Nadu
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV, Scene 1, performed by Michael Rodriguez paired with Lucas Cranach the Younger’s “Nymph of the Spring,” 1540, Germany
- Sonnet 18 performed by TaiReikca L.A. paired with Wiliam-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “TheYoung Shepherdess,” 1885, France
- Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Scene 4, performed by Abigail Grace Allwein paired with Emile-Antoine Bourdelle’s “Heracles the Archer,” c.a. 1909, France
Joy Yvonne Jones is from Houston, Texas, where she attended The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota through the Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program. Her recent credits include Cherise Howard in Flex (44th Humana Festival of New American Plays) Zuzu in Dance Nation and Saartjie Baartman in Voyeurs de Venus (Craig Noel San Diego Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play) at Moxie Theatre, Hall in Men On Boats (New Village Arts), Jane in Pride Prejudice (Cygnet Theatre), Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (New Match Collective), and Isabelle in Ring Round the Moon (Lamb’s Players Theatre); she has also appeared as the Lady in Orange in for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, produced by the La Jolla Theatre Ensemble and Tanika Baptiste, and directed by Carla Tonya Dejesus. Joy is a hurricane working on her revolution at the speed of inspiration.
Samuel Young has previously appeared in the role of Henry in Return Engagements at Scripps Ranch Theater, and he understudied the role of Ray in San Diego Repertory Theatre’s production of Aubergine. Previous to that, he played the title character last year in Coronado Playhouse’s production of Macbeth. Some of his other favorite shows that he’s been in at Coronado Playhouse are King Charles III, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet; and he just finished directing The Winter’s Tale, and Moon Over Buffalo there. He has also worked with Pickwick Players in To Kill A Mockingbird, Fruitlessmoon Theatreworks in American Carnage, and Patio Playhouse in Becky Shaw. Prior to moving to San Diego, Samuel worked in Boston, MA with SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Theatreworks, Boston Playwright’s Theatre, Theatre Cooperative, Ubiquity Stage, Arlington Center for the Arts, Industrial Theatre, and the Wheelock Family Theatre.
Sandra Maas is an award-winning journalist that has been informing and entertaining television and radio audiences in San Diego for 30 years. She currently hosts the video series “Trailblazing Women” at the Women’s Museum of California and is blazing her own trail these days in her quest to help women in the workplace achieve equal pay.
Michael Rodriguez is a local San Diego stage and screen actor as well as a playwright. He is currently collaborating with Pandora Pop, a German performance art group, on a devised production about the U.S.- Mexico International Border wall.
He chose the Nymph of the Spring by Lucas Cranach the Elder as the art piece to be featured with his performance of Bottom’s Dream because it portrays a nymph, a mythical forest spirit or deity, much like the ones Bottom encounters while rehearsing a play in the woods outside of the city of Athens. Another reason he chose this piece is that the nymph in the painting appears to be resting or sleeping and perhaps dreaming. She seems so relaxed without a care in the world. Now when Bottom awakens, he is not exactly relaxed. But, he is full of vitality and a lust for life and this painting expresses that to Michael as well.
TaiReikca L.A. is a San Diego-based Actor, Stage Manager, and Writer. Her credits include Roshni in House of Joy (San Diego Rep); and Priestess Bella/Ensemble in T.O.A.S.T., Alex in Body of Faith, and Sydney in Plantation! [Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Staged Readings]. Stage Management credits: ASM – How To Catch Creation, Hairspray, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Henry V (OSF); The Little Mermaid (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); SM – Aida, Sassy Mamas, Ruined, and The House That Will Not Stand (Hattiloo Theatre). TaiReikca holds an MFA in Stage Management from California Institute of the Arts, and a BA in Theatre Performance from Alabama State University.
Abigail Grace Allwein is a Craig Noel winning artist who has been seen in the Kathleen Marshall-directed Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Globe Theatre in 2018, as well as the 2019 Globe For All’s The Winter’s Tale, for which she composed original music. She also has recently appeared in Once (Lamb’s Players Theatre)*Craig Noel Award Winner, Sister Act (Walnut Street Theatre), and Indecent (Cape Repertory Theatre). Her other notable credits include Deirdre in I Hate Hamlet; Jennifer in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Turkey Representative in David Mamet’s November; Mary Jane in Big River; Susan in Company; Grace Farrell in Annie; Marian Paroo in The Music Man; and Cathy Hiatt in The Last Five Years. Last year she played Michelle in the La Jolla Theatre Ensemble’s staged reading of Rhapsody in Red. Ms. Allwein has been seen in numerous print and commercial ads, and she was featured as a soloist on WCLV/NPR with “The Mighty Wurlitzer Radio Hour.”
Produced by John Tessmer and Patricia Elmore Costa for the Shakespeare Society, and by Bailey Cain for the Museum
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